Advice on What to do Next

[sabby123]

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Hi!

I am a fourth year student doing Bachelor of Science in Canada. I will be graduating this year and unfortunately, did not make it to any interviews for medical schools in Canada for this application cycle. For the next application cycle, I am considering trying for American Schools and the Caribbean Schools to broaden my opportunities.

I am very confused about what I should do in the upcoming year. I do not know if doing a 2-year masters is a good move. There are not a lot of one year masters available in Canada that are of interest to me. Will a masters program help boost my medical school application? Is it worth doing 2 years of masters especially considering the fact that I will not get to apply immediately the following year? If I eventually intend on going to medical school (even abroad if need be), will having a masters help me in the long run - (I have heard it might help towards getting a residency).

My Stats are as follows:
cGPA: 3.89
MCAT: 32 (9 Verbal, 11 Bio, 12 Physics,1st try), 508 (123 Verbal, 127 Physics, 127 Psych, 131 Bio, 2nd try)
I will be retaking the MCAT this summer and am expecting to do better.
ECs: 150 hours of hospital volunteering, 50 hours of tutoring, 30 hours of tutoring children with learning disabilities, a year of volunteering as a research assistant, NSERC, Have presented at a Research Conference , Thesis Research, 60 hours School Resume/CV editor, and several other experiences

Thank you for any replies and reading my post!

 

[GrapesofRath]

Hi!

I am considering trying for American Schools and the Caribbean Schools to broaden my opportunities.

Masters wont do jack in terms of residency prospects.

The bolded is not an answer for you at all. It's a great way to spend 250k and 4 years and not end up with a residency. I dont really recommend retaking the MCAT: you already made the mistake of retaking a perfectly fine score once and doing worse and doing much worse on the verbal/CARs. Making that mistake again will likely have real ramifications.

Your best bet is to try and get more service based ECs while boosting your clinical experience and trying for US DO schools, 14 of which take internationals and for which you are a reasonable candidate. The MCAT retake makes US MD schools more problematic and more of a reach but you can try if you want. IF you really want perhaps you consider a US SMP program; although I hesitate to recommend them because I've never personally seen an international do a US SMP and get into a US MD school successfully after doing one.

 

[jojo58]

For Pete's sake don't do any more schooling before medical school. Even retaking the MCAT is questionable for you. The best course is to find Canadian friendly schools and bolster your ECs because academically you're fine.